(The following is excerpted from Ted Reinstein’s recently released book, New England Notebook: One Reporter, Six States, Uncommon Stories, published by Globe Pequot Press)

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In 2008, New York Times Food Editor Raymond Sokolov wrote about his nationwide search for the best hot dog in America. It took him from Los Angeles to Chicago, and on to the East Coast.

I would have happily wagered Sokolov in advance that he’d taste no better dog anywhere than the Boston Speed Dog. And as it turns out, he didn’t.

Sokolov anointed Speed’s “The dog against which I now measure all others.”

In other words, the best hot dog in America. Period. Right here in Boston.

I first sampled the Speed Dog in 2000. A friend and colleague of mine hadbeen insisting I had to check out this small hot dog truck in Boston’s Newmarket Square, a gritty industrial expanse surrounded by the city’s meat and produce district.

Speed, I was told, had irregular hours, no phone number, and there was no way of knowing if he was there or not on any given day except by calling one of the businesses on the Square, asking them to look out the window, and visually confirm whether or not Speed’s truck was there. I finally went down there, and I understood.

I returned with a photographer so I could share the experience with our viewers. I stood alongside the small chrome counter, on the other side of the tiny cramped quarters of a small trailer, and watched the long-running choreography in action.

Speed, in his eighties at the time, moved with calm, quiet, but deliberate precision. Tall, wafer thin, with shiny, mocha-colored skin, big round glasses and an ever-present blue baseball cap, Speed gently turned the eight-inch,all-beef dogs on the grill, along with the fresh buns.

Some say his nickname had to do with being a former fast-talking DJ. Maybe. Speed never said.

What he was always happy to share, however, was the process by which he made the extraordinary hot dog over which you were salivating.

“You got to marinate it in apple cider and brown sugar, then charcoal-grilled over real hickory wood chips to give it that picnic taste, and of course served on a special Speed Dog roll—then add your Speed Dog mustard, BBQ sauce, relish, onions, and chili—all special made for the hot dog, and it all goes back to the days when I was working on dining cars for the railroad.”

When a dog was done, Speed would spear it with a long knife, expertly slicing it down the middle, and add his unique sauces and fixings before handing it across the open window to another patiently waiting customer, who would then devour it with near-reverential (you’ll pardon the pun) relish.

“It’s better than a steak!” gushed a middle-aged businessman with a loosened tie on a sunny, June lunchtime at the Speed wagon.

But you needn’t take his word for it. There’s the ex-con’s testimonial as well.

“I’ve been coming here for twenty years,” the businessman smiled. “One day, I was here chatting with Speed, and this guy comes up and Speed says, ‘Hey, I haven’t seen you for quite a while, where you been?’ And the guy says, ‘I just got out of Walpole [state prison] this morning, been there for five years, this is my first stop—I’ve been thinking about these dogs every minute!’ ”

That’s customer loyalty.

In 2008, Ezra Anderson turned things over to his longtime associate, Greg Gale. Fans miss the slow-moving, gentle and stately presence of Speed himself. But the essential hot dog he created is still served up in the same place, and devoured with the same gusto. What Speed said years ago when I asked him how he regards his customers’ happy, messy faces, still holds true.

“That’s my reward,” he smiled laconically, seemingly unfazed by the long line beginning to snake around his trailer. “When you see someone who’s never hadone enjoying it, and you hear ’em eating ’em . . . .”

He paused, looked out past the crowd at his counter, and then turned back to business on the grill.

“Well, you may go through New England eating hot dogs, but you won’t find one of these.”

No. You won’t.

(Read more about Boston Speed Dog in Ted’s recent book, New England Notebook: One Reporter, Six States, Uncommon Stories. )